User Reviews

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
jimb4964
a Audio Enthusiast

Date Reviewed: August 18, 2002

Bottom Line:

I got a great deal on Monitor 5's and wanted the center to go with them, but they only had this year's model in the center. They've added a phase plug to the dual drivers. The speaker sounds great! I love the rich quality on DD and DTS soundtracks. James Earl Jones' voice sounds fantastic! It does a good job with the "Unleash Hell" scene in Gladiator (the new benchmark scene for me).

The Center channel is a dominant part of the surround sound experience, the CC350 brings the voices to life. Amazing clarity, and a full sound. I've never had problems with the tweeter.

Matched with Harmon Kardon's AVR20II Dolby Prologic - $500This is an awesome combo that provides dynamic clarity with precise thump for under $2,500. I bought this combo back in 1998, so I'm sure it could be duplicated for much less today.

Keep in mind, if you're the type of person who likes to critique classical music, don't expect miracles from under $3000 in equipment

I had used the CC-350 for a couple years without a problem until a couple months ago. I have a Yamaha RX-V995 receiver with its center channel pre-out coupled to a Marantz MA-700 amp (rated at 200 watts) for the CC-350. The MA-700 gain controls was set at about 60% which is 20% below THX level. At that setting the volume is the same as with the speaker connected directly to the receiver.

While playing The Matrix lobby scene at an obscene volume the tweeter failed in the CC-350. I later found the receiver dynamic range was set on max. which is probably why it failed (I don't know how the DR was set that way - can I blame the kids?).

This one was my fault I guess - just too much power at max. DR. The dealer did replaced the tweeter, but this is a known problem for Paradigm speakers with the titanium tweeter. I have Monitor 9 fronts and have had tweeters replaced three times. At first the Paradigm tech said my receiver output wasn't clean enough. So I bought the Marantz amps, but still had the problem. They finally put a 'tweeter protector device' inside the speakers, which kind of acts like a circuit breaker. If you drive the speaker too hard the tweeter drops out & then comes back on after you reduce volume.

Anyway, I believe Paradigm may have changed the design of the tweeters in the newer CC-370 & Monitor 9 v2.

I like these speakers very much in spite of the problems I have had. They are a great value.